THE PICTURE OF FUTURE

THE ARGUMENT IN BRIEFFor the reader of state papers, the argument of this volume is here reduced to ten clauses, in the manner of a communiqué. Everything that follows in these pages is evidence for one of them.One. The future is not unknown. The God of Scripture identifies Himself as the One declaring the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), and the last book of the Bible is titled the Unveiling, not the Concealment.Two. The revealed future is legally the property of those to whom it is revealed - those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever (Deuteronomy 29:29).Three. The declared trajectory of history is blessing, not catastrophe: an expected end of peace (Jeremiah 29:11), a government of unending increase (Isaiah 9:7), a planet filled with glory as the waters cover the sea (Numbers 14:21; Habakkuk 2:14).Four. The thief named in John 10:10 is real, but he is a defendant, not an author. He does not hold the pen, and he does not write the ending.Five. The mechanism of the future is covenant - promises sworn by God upon Himself - and its climax is stated in Ephesians 1:10: the gathering together in one of all things in Christ, in the dispensation of the fulness of times.Six. The purpose of eternity is stated in Ephesians 2:7: the exhibition, in the ages to come, of the exceeding riches of divine grace toward the redeemed.Seven. The government of the future has been assigned. At the seventh trumpet the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ (Revelation 11:15); reward is paid to the servants of God, and the destroyers of the earth are destroyed (Revelation 11:18).Eight. The end state is specified: no more death, sorrow, crying or pain; all things made new; and the words certified as true and faithful (Revelation 21:4-5).Nine. The verified data of the modern world - longer life, less destitution, more literacy, more light, more water, more knowledge, more Scripture in more tongues - run parallel to this specification, not against it. History is behaving like a construction site that matches the blueprint.Ten. The rational posture toward such a future is neither fear nor passivity but alignment: repentance, faith, and industrious expectancy - building, planting, blessing and governing as those who have read the last page.